the one with the dragon and her boy

The Inheritance series(or Cycle as he chooses to call it) is finally complete. And what a ride its been.
To be honest, initially Eragon didn't appeal to me at all. With its ancient language, the elves and the dwarves thrown in all together, it seemed to me to be a weak copy of the Lord of The Rings.The orcs could be Urgals; there was a mad King ruling over Alagaesia just like Sauron threatened the land.
It was an enjoyable read for sure(I was, in particular, enamored with Saphira. She is the strongest character to me. And Arya with her aloof awesomeness enchanted me.) but the whole too-much-resemblance-to-LOTR had me just putting back and saying 'eh..'.
Eldest impressed me. Oromis, Glaedr, the world of the Elves...I'd never read anything like it. And now, more clearly, I could see the differences. Here, Elves were strong and beautiful just like the LOTR Elves but the whole 'they always speak in riddles' and the other little details like them being vegetarians made it stand out. It was thrilling to see just how much Eragon changed from the farm boy he was in Eragon to the warrior that he was at the end of Eldest.
In a manner, Brisingr didn't fulfill all my expectations. It wasn't the end for one thing. And parts of it were too wordy. Like Eragon and Arya's trek back from Dras Leona to the Varden's camp. While I enjoyed the whole make a ship and set it free, I wanted action ! Revelations like Brom being Eragon's father(it would have been lovely if Morzan had been his father ! The whole choice deal that Dumbledore spouts and that the heritage of the father doesn't pass onto the son. I mean, look at Murtaugh. He turned out fine.), the Eldunari and the fact that the whole 'Look under the Menoa tree' stuff spiced it up and made us ache for the ending.
And lo behold ! Inheritance lived up to most of its expectations.


(I feel obliged to add that while I wont be spelling out spoilers bit by bit, if you're gonna read the book and find out everything for yourself, Stop Reading. Now.)


Inheritance began with a bang and kept racing towards the ending. The book was absorbing; the storming of Belatona, Aroughs and Dras Leona(I felt a particular satisfaction that the priests of Helgrind died !) and the finding of Niernen gave hope and the sense of building up to what promised to be a good battle. Nasuada's subsequent capture forces leadership onto Eragon. The weight on his shoulders forces him to start moving and make the decision to go find the Rock of Kuthian and the Vault of Souls. I expected Eldunari but not the eggs(good to know Saphira's not as alone as we all thought! I wonder if that changed her true name ?). The section with Eragon finding out his true name didn't appeal to me but it was necessary for him. The interleaving of Nasuada's imprisonment and Eragon's foray into Vroengard was well written and didn't let me put my book down at all !
The book start's picking up after this; the battle is here, Urubaen is before them. Eragon faces Galbatorix but to be humbled in front of the strength he posses. It was a little sad imagining the sadness and anger that raged inside Shruikan.
It was nice to see that Murtaugh was able to change himself; to break away(even though they didn't get together in the end, they were very cute together!) and turn against Galbatorix when required.
The fight-of-the-century(or so we anticipated) turned out surprisingly simple(Harry Potter anybody?). When Galbatorix is experiencing everything he ever inflicted, Eragon and he duel and Eragon manages to kill him(simultaneously, Saphira and Thorn take on Shruikan and kick his ass and Arya kills him with the Dauthdaert.).
The last egg hatches(the Rider was just like I expected) and Saphira falls in love(or lust depending on how you look at it). Nasuada is crowned Queen of Alagaesia while Arya becomes Queen of the Elves. Eragon faces the prospect of rebuilding the Riders.
Remembering Angela's prediction that he would leave Alagaesia to never return, Eragon and Saphira bid farewell and set sail along with all the Eldunari and the eggs to become the Leader of the New Riders.


A LOTR ending rather than a Harry Potter one; it was bittersweet and beautiful. The love story that began to take shape in Eragon and tormented the character Eragon all through Eldest and Brisingr, receives a sort of conclusion. There is a chance of it becoming a happily-ever-after but its left to the reader. I thought it was a mature ending and anything else wouldn't have fit this Eragon(despite the fact that he left so many people behind).


Overall, the Inheritance cycle definitely deserves its place up there next to LOTR, Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl and what not. There are jarring notes(Eragon is not always likable), heavy passages and sometimes not very satisfying conclusions but there are also a lot of strengths to this series.
Christopher Paolini wrote this series for 12 years of his life(he began when he was 15 and now he's 28) and I must say he's done a bang up job fleshing out a whole universe(that is as rich as Middle Earth), an assortment of characters(he left Angela to be as mysterious as ever!) and a fantasy story that's for all times.


(P.S- Thanks, Harsh for preordering and then lending it to me :D)

the one with the hamshiras

"One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs
And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls"


Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns is breathtaking. It makes you miserable, emotional and fills you with turbulence. 
It's divided into four parts. Part One is Mariam's story, Part two Laila's. Part three has both Laila and Mariam narrating and Part four is just Laila again.
Mariam's story is painful to swallow; an insane mother, a father who is too weak willed to defend his daughter, a cruel husband and miscarriages make hers a cruel life full of misery.
Laila, younger than Mariam, has a life that is light years apart. War and cruelty takes this away from her and blinded with deceit, she's driven to a life similar to Mariam's.
Women in Afghanistan endure the unendurable; they live life being submissive to the demands of the more or less irrational male(the burqa, the abuse both physical and emotional). Some parts of the book are just sickening(the hospitals refuse to accept female patients. they are all driven to one dirty hovel with no X-ray, no medicine, no anesthesia. There are only two doctors and they are expected to perform surgery while fully covered in a burqa. It is a wonder that Laila survives.), the way Laila is brutally beaten every time she tries to visit Aziza at the orphanage that she is forced to leave her at(because they couldnt afford to feed her and didnt want her to starve. Rasheed actually suggests prostituting Aziza, a small eight year old girl. When Laila refuses, he hits her).
("I see you again, I'll beat you until your mother's milk leaks out of your bones.")
Rasheed, the forty year old man that marries Mariam and the sixty year old that marries Laila, is a cruel misogynist. The way he treats Mariam at first is heart warming(so different from Jalil) and Mariam begans to slowly warm to him with affection. With the loss of every baby and the fact that Mariam cannot bear him a boy(when she is pregnant the first time, he buys clothes for a boy even though they dont know the gender), he descends into violence and cruelly abuses his wife.
Similarly with Laila, he is gentle through out her pregnancy yet cold and vicious after she bears him a baby girl(Aziza; when Zalmai is born, he goes head over heels to pamper and spoil the brat that imitates his father). The straw that breaks the camel's back is when Laila finds out that Tariq is alive and that Rasheed paid a man to come and tell her convincingly that Tariq died.
The ending is presented in a realistic manner(there is no amnesty; murder is murder regardless of the provocation) and Laila leaves with Tariq and her children.
Jalil, Mariam's father, attempts to redeem his character(before he dies, he comes to Mariam's house and begs for her to see him-similar to how she waited outside his house as a kid-) by leaving her her inheritance and a video tape of a movie that in a way, set off the chain of events(Pinocchio, curiously.). But it is sadly too little and too late.
Tariq is the only male character that shines in this gruesome tale. He is strong(despite the loss of a leg) and yet, tender when dealing with the children and Laila. He loves and respects Laila. He tries and succeeds in getting Zalmai to trust him. He befriends his daughter and proves to us all that not all men are the same.
After years of struggle and strife, their marriage provides the sweetness to the bitter ending.
After I read this book, I couldn't sleep. I thought of everything they'd suffered(fictional or not; the plight of women in the Taliban ruled countries is pitiable) and of everything I had; a loving family that provides me with everything I need no matter what the sass or the anger I display.
There are some things that I take for granted; the little freedoms that so many girls enjoy. The freedom to dress the way I want, to say what I think, to study as much as I want and to shape my own destiny(even with the restrictions about the directions I shape it into), is something that so many girls don't have. I am grateful for this life and everything I have; so much more grateful after I read this book.


*end personal rant*

the one with the many tales

"I wonder why grown-ups always complete their sentences when talking about pleasant things, but always leave them unfinished if it's something unpleasant. Like 'Ah, a woman's fate..' or 'Oh, three girls..'. There's always silence after these half statements."


The Inner Courtyard, Stories by Indian Women(edited by Lakshmi Holmstrom) isn't a book I'd usually pick up by myself but when presented it by a person(I'm entirely confident that her taste in books is similar to mine), I made the attempt to read the many short stories within its pages and I fell in love with quite a few.


Vishwapriya.L.Iyengar's The Library Girl crawled under my skin and refused to leave. It's the story of a girl in a Muslim neighbourhood or basti. Ever since her father made her(Talat) drop out of school, Talat goes to the library to read(without her father's knowledge) and learn what is beyond her reach. We hear her mother argue for Talat to go to school(her little brother Tahir goes, yet not Talat) and her father firmly dismisses her with an admonishment for comparing Talat to Tahir.
("Buy her silk, satin, velvet, silver -but, fool woman, don't compare her to Tahir.")
Talat, popularly known as the library girl, flounders on after dropping out of school. She plays, she learns, she is the girl who learns to dream. Her father surprises her one day with a burqa as a gift, a black silk one with fine net mesh as the face covering. Talat, happy and delighted, with the gift doesn't consider with the consequences of it.
("Her mother rubbed salt into the goat's breast and did not know whether glass crystals were being rubbed into her own. Only her father's eyes shone with pleasure.")
She slips off to the library always but there are no friendly greetings; no one even seems to recognize her. She runs to the library yet even the librarian doesn't see the Library Girl. She sees only a woman running in a burqa and waving her hands, falling down and crying. They all go about their day; missing the library girl who was no more.
("Within the veil, a darkness seized Talat. It bandaged her mouth,her eyes, and sealed her voice. Today her smiles had lit nothing. Blank faces became ash in her gaze. She wanted...she wanted to lift the veil and say,'Look..it's me. Only me in a Persian robe. It's a joke.' But the robe had hands that clasped her mouth.")
It's hard to explain what made me love this story so much. Maybe its the lyrical nature of the story; its in third person narrative and written in a form that makes you feel like you're there too. The little undercurrents that Talat doesn't seem to see, the larger picture that she doesn't seem to know; everything leads to the inevitable end and you weep for the loss of one so bright as well.


Another favorite was Girls by Mrinal Pande. The protagonist is a young girl; the middle child of three girls. She is being taken along with her sisters with her mother to her parent's home to stay there for the remnants of her pregnancy. The girl thinks of how much she hates coming to her grandmother's house(her mother is always meaner to her and her father never accompanies them) and tries to amuse herself by various small means(usually like a boy) which makes her mother more angry.
Through various conversations("You are born a girl and you'll have to bend for the rest of your life, so you might as well learn how" ; her grandmother, "Oh goddess! Protect my honor.At least this time, let her take a son back from her parent's home") and observations, she puts together the significance of being a girl in her family.
("That girl must be harassing her. She was born only to plague my life.")
This strikes a chord in every girl's heart. While having never been discriminated against for being born a girl(by my family or anyone else), it is quite difficult to not empathize with the protagonist for the difficulty of her situation and the lifelong struggle she'll have to face. Told entirely, in first person narrative, this story brings a lump to the throat.
Mrinal Pande, skillfully hints at the environment and the people; the words just pull you in and absorb you.
I, initially, typed a whole rant about how girls are discriminated against in favor of boys but I don't want to turn this into some sort of wild discussion. This is a blog post about a book I read; a book which has some stories that mean a lot to me. A book, I'll treasure.


("When you don't love girls, why do you pretend to worship them?")


P.S - the books features 18 stories by a lot of prominent writers some of whom are Anita Desai, Mahasveta Devi, Shashi Deshpande, Kamala Das and Vaidehi. These two are merely part of the book and are in no way, the most important ones.

the one with the Dog

“I sing of a woman with ink on her hands and pictures hidden beneath her hair. I sing of a dog with skin like velvet pushed the wrong way.I sing of the shape a fallen body makes in the dirt beneath a tree, and I sing of an ordinary man who is wanted to know things no human being could tell him.This is the true beginning.” 


Caroyln Parkhurst's novel, The Dogs of Babel begins with the end; well almost. The novel opens to what we know is the end of the tale: Lexy's death. Paul, the grief stricken widower, begins to suspect is not just an accident. Lexy wasn't the kind to climb apple trees and several things around the house don't seem to add up(the rearranged books, the steak that Lexy fed Lorelei out of the blue). So, Paul turns to the only witness to the incident: their dog, Lorelei.
Paul begins a series of attempts to teach Lorelei to speak or sign so that she'll be able to tell him what really happened. Pronounced as mad by his friends, colleagues and everyone, Paul stumbles upon clues and finds the end to the tale and his peace.
A non-linear narrative, it shifts between Paul talking about the aftermath of Lexy's death(his attempts to teach Lorelei, the way his colleagues and friends teach him, his own attempt to peace together the entire tale) and their story together(how they met and their little slice of happily ever after). Lexy's moulded for the reader without ever being alive throughout the tale; she grows through the story, her character becoming stronger through out until in the end we see her for who she really is.
Woven into the tale is a story with a group of people who really do believe that dogs can speak and perform surgeries on them to 'enhance' their vocal chords and Paul, initially a believer, realizes the truth of things.
This book is absolutely brilliant; every book has its flaws and so does this one but it more than makes up for it with its lyrical writing and the emotions it induces in the reader.You grieve along with Paul as he suffers through the five stages of grief and you're reeling too when you finally realize the truth along with him. This book is also for dog lovers; Paul depends on Lorelei while he is grieving and he realizes just how much she means to him(she is his last gift from Lexy).
Lexy wanes in front of our eyes and it's all we can do(just like Paul) to hold onto the memory we have of her; the strong, beautiful woman that she began as and not the emotionally turbulent, troubled person she was.
The ending is satisfying; Paul comes to terms with himself and Lexy and takes several steps forwards, treasuring only the good times and leaving behind the back.
A first timer, Carolyn Parkhurst produced a great book that deserves all of its accolades. It's not a book well known here in India(its barely known at all) and that's a shame because when people are reading all those Nora Roberts and those Danielle Steeles, they could be picking up this book and realizing just how beautiful a book really can be.
The Dogs of Babel is about love, trouble, grief and finding out how blind you can be about the person you love more than anything. Paul and Lexy were no super couple; they had fights, problems, disagreements and their moments of happiness. And that's what makes this book amazing.


"I remember my wife in white. I remember the red dahlias she held during our wedding. I remember her turning away, her body stiff with anger. I remember the sound of her breath while she slept. I remember the feel of her body when I held her. I remember, always I remember that she brought solace to my life as much as grief. I remember that for every moment of darkness between us, there was a moment of such brightness, that I almost couldn't bear to look at it headlong.  I try to remember my wife for the person she was and not the woman I had created from spare bits and parts to help me in my mourning. As the time passes by and the balm of forgiveness soothes the parched pieces of my heart, I realize remembering my wife this way, is a gift I can give us both."

the one with the Goddesses

The shelf looked interesting. The books were predominantly in dark colored covers and there were interesting illusions and the attractive titles called to me: Goddess of the Spring, Goddess of the Sea, Goddess of the Rose.etc
A cursory glance over the back cover told me they were romances; of the kind I loved best. With the Greek Gods in them(I cant help but admit that I love Hades.).
I was curious but I knew my mother would never knowingly let me read them(a flip through the book assured me of its extreme smuttiness - though not enough to make people wince-) and I left those copies there nestled in the Fantasy section which was occupied by the likes of the Lord of the Rings and many others.
I did have the opportunity to peruse the book later on(thus bringing around a point to this post) and might I say, it ranks the lowest on all the books I have ever read. And that's saying something as I have suffered through things like Inheritance of Loss(Sorry, Kiran Desai. I know you won the Man Booker for it but it just isnt my cup of tea) and assorted lovelies whose first page I cant get past.
While I did get past the first page for this book(Goddess of Spring by P.C Cast; Hades was obviously first), I discovered that the Gods and Goddesses were mere foils for an uninspired story that attempted to touch on the metaphysical(is love only for the soul ?). Hades is nothing more than this well built, sexy man with a deep voice and the manners(If I had wanted just this, I would have gone to Mills and Boons). Where is the melancholy of the God of the Dead ?  The one who reigns over Tartarus and every other deep, damned part of Hell. He has seen things no one else has. Things that scar and change people. He does not go around making furniture or decorating his palace.
Cast in the role of the man who didnt want anyone to see him for who he truly is, all Hades seems to do is be a teenager in front of Persephone. Iapis, a character I expected more from, disappointed. The difference in the time in the mortal and the immortal world could have been gone into a little more clearly(seeing as Lina encounters people with ancient Greek names and Orpheus comes to fetch Eurydice only when Lina is there).
Carolina Santoro the mortal who finally makes Hades fold for her like paper is practically no different from the Mills and Boons novels heroines(other than the interesting ability with the animals).
What could have been a lovely fleshed out fantasy story(Percy Jackson anyone?) crumbles down to a series filled with women who make the Gods fall in love with them(a super hero per say. The Gods have been reduced to this, eh?). Orpheus is a cruel husband; Hades talks of soul mates and love(my apologies but it seemed just like a bad build up for the end) . While Tartarus provides a stronger look at hell, it falls greatly short of the epic reality that Hell would be if it existed(Dante provided a much more realistic view). Hell is not about sexy men and cuddly horses; its darker and more wicked than your imagination can come up with. The conclusion is utterly unsatisfying as well.
The excitement when you think you're going to read about the Greek Gods fizzes out when you realize that they just misclassified a sappy Romance book into the wildly imaginative Fantasy section.
We, Fantasy geeks, like a lot more than this on the plate; we require beings like satyrs, centaurs, a venegeful God and Riptide(^_^)if its Greek Gods you offer us.
P.C Cast, your book disappoints greatly.

(...dont even think about attempting to read Warrior Rising. There goes another fellow I used to like...)

the one with the Daisy

Manga.

There's really nothing like it.

From action to historical fiction, comedy to business, sports and games to fantasy, mystery, horror and sexuality, there's something for everyone.

There's shonen manga aimed at boys and shojo manga aimed at girls(though you're free to read whatever you want ^_^); there are many subdivisions within those and the total amount will make your head spin.

I started watching anime when I was around 13; Inuyasha was my first love(even though I didnt realize I had already watched CardCaptor Sakura when I was ten) and I just tumbled head first into a world where nothing was impossible. Demons, Ninja, Chakra, Mikos, Shinigami, Alchemists, Death Notes and impossibly amazing men, swordsmen with the weight of the world, magicians. etc.

It's 7 years later and I still am awed. This blog was mainly going to concentrate on the books I read but this manga feels very close to the heart. At a time when I felt like I was being held down by the weight of the world, it was Daisy to the rescue.

Dengeki Daisy is a romantic comedy shojo manga by Kyousuke Motomi. Most people will cringe at its cuteness but I find it adorable. Teru is a young girl who finds herself lost after her brother dies of a stomach tumor. Before his death, he gives her a phone and says Daisy will always be there for her; just an email away. And so, starts the most important relationship of both of their lives(both Daisy's and hers').

At times, the plot feels like its trying too hard(for instance, the Jack O Frost; we love Kurosaki anyway. No need to make him more hot.) but its lighthearted humor and the sweetness has you hanging onto it. Beautifully drawn, some of the pictures are so artistic that you just want to stare at them for hours on end.

The author adds humorous touches by maintaining a Q&A column about the characters' traits(how will Kurosaki go bald ? Rofl.). Kurosaki embodies a character that alternates between rough and gentle; both extremes of which readers adore(even the lolicon part :P) and Teru is a funny girl with a mild temperament and a soft heart("Go bald Kurosaki !"). Filled with its share of characters that tickle your funny bone one moment and are serious the next, Dengeki Daisy made the romantic in me go 'Awww.'


http://www.mangareader.net/123/dengeki-daisy.html
in case, anyone's interested ! 

the one with the vampire

"..she lived to put her arms around my neck and press her tiny cupid's bow to my lips and put her gleaming eye to my eye until our lashes touched and, laughing, we reeled about the room as if to the wildest waltz. Father and Daughter. Lover and Lover."

Thanks to the Twilight 'phenomenon' and the TV-series made watchable only by Ian Somerhalder(Vampire Diaries), the vampire is a well known being. While vampire ficiton writers might disagree on some of the basics such as: can vampires walk during the day(Anne Rice and Bram Stoker don't think so but Stephanie Meyer says they can. The only reason they don't is because they sparkle in the sunlight though God knows what use can that be to any creature other than for blinding its prey. Though, the prey might have burst into peals of laughter just after the sparkling begins. That might be how those vampires hunt. Maybe. Superior speed and strength and sparkling. But I digress.), are they truly evil ? (Again, Bram Stoker and Anne Rice don't think so- there is Louis who tries but he succumbs as well- but Stephanie Meyer has given us Edward, the mythical good vampire) and are they mindless immortals driven just by blood lust or are they the cadre of intelligent predators above us, they agree on the most basic thing about a vampire. Blood is essential for survival.
Question upon question about a phenomenon that may or may not even exist.
   Interview With The Vampire(Anne Rice, 1976; also made into a movie in 1994 starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst and Antonio Banderas) has Louis, a 200 year old vampire, revealing his story of suffering and despair to a human male. From the years he spent as human to the second birth he went through(with Lestat as his master) to the daughter he loved and cherished and to the part of himself he lost forever, Louis holds the reader spellbound with his gift for words.
  Lestat converts Louis for his money, plantation and his skill at managing money; Louis soon becomes disenchanted with Lestat upon discovery that Lestat cannot answer any of his burning questions about where they came from, are they the sons of the devil. etc. Lestat looks at everything with mockery and takes joy in the seduction and the kill. To the vampires, the kill is above everything; it gives greater joy than sex and is something that cannot be satisfied with just animal blood. Louis describes it as an erotic process,
 "...for vampires, it is the ultimate experience."
 To keep Louis with him, Lestat converts a little five year old, Claudia and they live in a mockery of domesticity. Claudia matures mentally but not physically, an old soul in a very young body. Her bitterness wounds Lestat and Louis and drives them apart. Claudia kills Lestat to escape from him and they set off to find other vampires so that they can satisfy their own curiosity instead of being permanently trapped by Lestat in New Orleans. They find Armand and his company in Paris (Theatre des Vampires). The company suspects them of killing their maker(a grave offense) while Louis falls rapturously in love with Armand who reciprocates his passion. Louis knows he cant leave Claudia who suspects his passion and asks him to convert a human to become her keeper. Louis agrees under mental influence from Armand and converts Madeline(a woman who lost her child) who becomes devoted to Claudia. This nearly breaks something in Louis because he's sworn to himself that he would never convert someone to his miserable existence. Armand convinces him that it is he who is at fault and not Louis. However, Lestat is not as dead as they think and he returns to have revenge on Claudia and to take Louis with him.
The company, upon discovery of her attempt to kill Lestat, overpowers locks Louis into a coffin and burns Claudia and Madeline alive in the sun. Louis breaks down when he escapes and becomes witness to their ashes and even Lestat is remorse-stricken for the daughter that he has lost("...I didn't think they'd do this..."). He sets the theater on fire to revenge his daughter. He loses a vital part of himself; the part that feels passion upon the monstrosity committed by Armand(who in the end was the one who killed Claudia) and ends up, wandering alone; the grieving human-vampire. The most human of them all.
The story is a warning, not a beckon; a tale of passion and grief and eternal wandering. Louis wants nothing more than to be human again; he is compassionate and emotional in a world of vampires with no humane qualities but only filled with evil and coldness. He realizes he cannot be anything but damned in body and mind. He was evil and the only way out was to attain a depth of evil that would end his pain and make him a cold, merciless destroyer.  He becomes weary of immortality and everything he has undergone. He lives alone, without companions. His story ended in Paris when Claudia died; his life meanders on until the world ends or he chooses to end i. He even loses the hatred he feels for Lestat, the love for Claudia and drifts as a wanderer, cold and bereft of the 'mortal passion' that drew everyone to him.

("...and that's the end of it. There's nothing else.")

the one with the streetcar

"They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, transfer to one called Cemeteries, ride six blocks and get off at the Elysian Fields !"

Written by Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire is a play in eleven acts. Engrossing in its madness, it takes place in the two-room apartment of Stanley and Stella Kowalksi. Blanche Dubois, Stella's sister, comes to visit them and it is soon obvious that she is not all together.

With delusions of grandeur, she puts on airs and looks down upon Stanley who dominates over his wife with a passion that Blanche doesnt understand. Widowed at a young age by a husband who killed himself, she sifts in and out of reality. She tells her sister that she was allowed to take a leave of absence but in fact she had been fired from her post as Teacher for having had an affair with a 17-year old student. She talks  constantly of Belle Reve, their ancestral property and of how it was 'lost'.

Stanley gets into a collision course with Blanche as she holds court in his house, drawing his friend and her would-be-suitor Mitch like a moth to a flame.

Stella, defensive of her sister, seeks to keep Stanley from harming her but even she cannot turn a blind eye to the holes in her sisters' story or not see how much she needs help. When Stanley finds out all her secrets(the reason she left her job) and all the flaws that she's seeking to mask with her airs(her alcoholism is no secret through all the acts), he exposes it in a brutish way that pushes her over the edge. Mitch leaves her and Blanche subsides into a alcoholic misery where she keeps hoping for a former beau to call and take her away from all the madness and the unkindness. In the penultimate act, after coming from the hospital where his wife, Stella gives birth to their child, he rapes Blanche, tearing apart her reality.

In the last act, she is taken away by a doctor and his nurse; away to a mental institution. 

The original cast had Marlon Brando as Stanley; an unknown then, he was given cab fare to Tennessee William's house where he gave a brilliant reading and made some house repairs as well ! 

The play is a testament to cruelty and the fragility of the human mind. Blanche totters on the edge of sanity, clinging to memories long gone by. She is unable to face the present but chooses to dwell in the past but then don't we all ? Scarlett O'Hara dreams of Tara and Ellen's soft hands whenever she's faced with hardship. The human spirit is sometimes surprisingly strong. But at other times, it snaps like a thin wafer, leaving just crumbles behind.

the one with the little girl

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta; the tip of my tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta."

A novel by Vladimir Nabakov(incidentally, the novel was written in English and not in his mother tongue- Russian), Lolita is one-of-a-kind. The protagonist of the novel is a middle aged man, rather sober and ordinary; a scholar. A tragic romance and a failed marriage behind him, he lives his life quietly, absorbed in translating French Literature for English speaking students while nymphets fluttered in and out of his life. His contact limited to just viewing them in their play and chatter, Humbert Humbert categorizes dreams of possessing a nymphet(a nymph-like girl from the age of nine to 14) as a thing that might never come to pass. His life becomes a whirl when he lodges with Charlotte Haze and he meets Lolita, he loves Lolita at almost the same instant as he met her.

Lolita is neither beautiful nor clever; Humbert laments often about how, no matter how hard he tries, Lolita refuses to bend to his will and become a cultured 12 year old girl. But his love for her is magical and a far greater force than himself. He cant break free even though it becomes obvious that he has caused his nymphet to resent him and his torture of her body. Forced to grow up far before she is ready, Lolita rebels against Humbert and finally breaks free in a combination of circumstances that she didn't think would happen to her. Robbed of her childhood, her story is symbolic of ruin. She's pregnant at 18, married to a man who has no idea of the truth of her relationship with her 'father' and in love with a man who wants her only for monetary purposes.

Lolita is a love story; an obsessive twisted love that disgusts you and thrills you at the same time. Tales of a pedophile, no matter how beautiful and lyrical it is, cannot lose their stench. And even if Lolita, at moments, seems far older than she is, you can never truly forget the nature of their mangled relationship. The relationship is doomed to fail, you can hang on and read and almost sympathize with the pain Humbert feels when torn from his Lolita. And be thankful in the end that even though Humbert manages to reach out to her again, she is far beyond his reach and no longer the four foot seven nymphet with the tanned limbs, the impish grin and the silky bronze hair. Heartbroken and resentful, Humbert drives himself to his ruin and finally with blood on his hands, writes the story of his life - his biggest love, his guilt and his attempt to relive a childish romance that ended before its time.

"...and this is the only immortality that you and I might share, my Lolita."

the one with the lion and the lamb

"Twilight is a young-adult vampire romance novel by author Stephenie Meyer. It is the first book of the Twilight series, and introduces seventeen-year-old Isabella Swan, who moves from Phoenix to Forks and finds her life in danger when she falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen."

This is what Wikipedia has to say for this book.

I don't think i need to go into what millions of teenagers have to say for this book.

I was one of those girls once. I take pride in thinking that since I am past the "I love Edward <3" stage that I can be considered a normal part of the human race.

But anyone who can recall nearly every part of Twilight cannot unfortunately be considered as a part of it.

There is a spell in those pages. A spell which makes you forget everyone else around you; your life, your college life, your friends, family. Scoff all you want but everyone who reads it reads it through. And that is the greatest thing you can say for a book.

What is it about these characters that make us like them ? Maybe its the thought of the macabre- vampires and the bloodsucking that turns us on. Or the eternal dream to be swept off your feet by a charming and suave man with smoldering eyes and an old fashioned gentlemanly manner (extinct now. all those qualities). Whatever it is, it makes us look beyond Bella seeming paper thin(Bella is the weakest character in the book), the laughable notion of the good vampire who seems like every girl's dream rolled into one(he's too perfect, a friend of mine says), how very good life seems for the vampire (I mean come on, they get everything ? good looks. speed. strength. memory. intelligence. immortality. extra sensory powers also ? give me a break).

The 'Twilight phenomenon' however (the craze over the movies)has driven all my love out of me. It is now worse than a boring book. The movie versions almost got me into a coma. All my love has been spent and there is nothing left anymore.

The name Twilight brings up a sense of cold, rain, deserted days and softness. Robert Pattinson makes me cringe and Kirsten Stewart makes me wish i were blind rather than watch her butcher up one of the books I enjoyed a lot.

The name Twilight brings up disgust towards the movie franchise and a little bit of shame. I still love the book. But everytime I read it, it dredges up visuals from the movie and that is just something i cannot take anymore.